The use of mobile devices for telephone, email, text messaging and data transfer continues to expand in the business environment. The proliferation of mobile devices has provided significant advantages to businesses through greater mobility and flexibility. While corporate pricing models and discounts typically lower than an individual would have to pay for the same plan, the cost involved with providing mobile devices and the expenses involved with the service plans for such devices can be significant.
One common business model has been for the company to purchase a mobile device(s) and accompanying service plan and distribute the mobile device(s) to select employees. The company pays for the mobile device and service plan, and the employee uses the device for work. As mobile devices have become more and more diverse offering a greater number of features, individuals have become increasingly reliant on mobile computing.
This has resulted in many individuals having to keep track of multiple mobile devices (i.e., one for work and one for personal). Beyond the challenge of keeping track of multiple different devices (and different mobile device chargers), having different devices can lead to additional work for the individual. For example, personal and work contacts have to be separated and syncing contact with an computer can be much more complicated; invariably there will be mixing of work and personal between the two devices; and trying to keep multiple devices charged can be challenging especially there is only one outlet for charging a device in the individual's vehicle to name just a few.
Accordingly, many companies have allowed employees to use their work mobile devices for personal matters, thereby negating the need to have and maintain two mobile devices. However, this has created additional challenges. For example, employees may heavily use of data features on their work mobile device for personal matters. This is especially so with broadband connections were users can download giga-bytes of data in a very short time (e.g., downloading music files, streaming video, downloading applications, etc.). Some individuals will make only modest use of their mobile device. However, with many individuals engaging in heavy data usage, the data allotment for the billing cycle for the company can quickly be reached. Overage charges can exceed the cost of the entire telecom plan for the billing cycle.
Another problem faced by companies that allow their employees to use the company provided mobile device for personal use, is that employees do not all use their mobile devices in the same way. For example, some text message heavily, while others need the ability to download and view documents, still others stream videos resulting in heavy data usage. There are quite a few different mobile devices, each with particular benefits and drawbacks. Accordingly, some companies have simply allotted a set stipend to employees in order to purchase the mobile device of the employees choosing to use for both work and personal, also known as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). A problem arises though, when a company has to integrate a relatively large number of diverse devices, to accommodate the diverse use (both work and personal) of its employees, and determine how to control costs associated with an employee's personal use of the mobile device(s), also known as the employee's individual liability.